Monthly Archives: August 2011

Having described more than 200 episodes of CTV‘s W-5 over the years, we have grown very familiar with the voice of CTV news anchor Lloyd Robertson. Along with millions of Canadians across the country, we will be feeling a little pang of sadness on Thursday September 1st when Lloyd gives his final newscast.

“That’s The Kind of Life It’s Been” is a one hour CTV Special directed by Lloyd’s daughter Lisa Robertson that takes an intimate retrospective look at his illustrious career – From his childhood, his first experiences as a radio announcer, his days at CBC and through his many years at CTV as their lead news anchor.

Lloyd was on air when Kennedy was assassinated, when Neil Armstrong made one giant leap for mankind and when Charles and Diana married. He informed us when the Berlin Wall finally fell, when troops invaded Kuwait and when the world watched in horror as the events of September 11th unfolded before our eyes.

With a career spanning more than 50 years, Lloyd Robertson has become one of Canada’s most recognizable figures. Though his nightly newscasts will be coming to an end, he will remain with CTV Bell Media as co-host of W-5.

“That’s The Kind of Life It’s Been” is a fitting tribute to his accomplishments and airs on Thursday, September 1st at 10pm local time across Canada immediately preceding Lloyd’s final newscast.

All of us at Descriptive Video Works would like to thank Lloyd for keeping us informed for so many years. You’ll be a very tough act to follow Lloyd!

Following President Obama’s signing of the 21st Century Communications and Accessibility Act last year, this week the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) set in place new rules stating that affiliates of the big four U.S. broadcast networks in the top 25 markets and five cable networks, must provide 4 hours a week of described video. The rules take effect October 8, 2011 and broadcasters have until July 1, 2012 to be in full compliance. You can read more about it here.

This new ruling means two important things… Firstly, there will be much greater media accessibility for the 1.5 million Canadians and 15 million Americans who suffer from some form of major vision impairment. This has been a long time coming and is wonderful news. Secondly, as a result of the FCC ruling we expect to be getting very, very busy at Descriptive Video Works! And you know what? We can’t wait!

As the new season of Fall TV shows approaches, we’re already busy on a number of shows. We look forward to telling you about what’s coming soon.

Fancy A Round of Golf?

Matt Juskie is a sophomore at Lincoln-Way North in Illinois who just made the golf team. Scoring in the mid-70s, one might not be impressed with this except for one incredible aspect of Matt’s game – He’s legally blind.

Matt was born with Aniridia, the absence of the iris in his eyes, meaning his pupils do not dilate according to the amount of light because there is no iris muscle to contract the lens. People suffering from Aniridia experience the world in a manner that is either too bright or too dark, the former of which can be extremely painful.

Despite this, Matt has not let his disability stop him from achieving. Read Matt’s story here.

NVDA (Non Visual Desktop Access)

NVDA is a free and open source screen reading application for the Windows operating system. Providing feedback via synthetic speech and Braille. it enables blind or vision impaired users to access computers.

Using NVDA technology, Dora Uchel recently graduated with an associate degree in education from Truckee Meadows Community College and in two years she plans to have a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Nevada.

Dora can only see blurred silhouettes as a result of a retinal impairment she has since birth but like golfer Matt Ruskie, she has not let this stop her from reaching her goals. Read Dora’s story here.

President & CEO of Descriptive Video Works, Diane Johnson recently sat down with Rob Sleath, President and Chair of Advocates for Sight Impaired Consumers (ASIC) who was kind enough to share his thoughts on the difference described video makes in the lives of those with significant vision loss.

Rob developed diabetes at the age of 11 and lost his sight in 1992 at the age of 36. Rob provides disability awareness seminars to transit operators and in his spare time, together with his golden retriever, Lombardi, he continues to act as an ambassador for the guide dog movement, raising funds, increasing public awareness and officially representing Guide Dogs for the Blind as their graduate agency representative for British Columbia.

In addition to President and Chair of ASIC, Rob Sleath is also currently serving as Chair of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and President of Committee for the Promotion of Accessible Conventional Transit (ComPACT).

We are proud to announce that over the coming months our team will be busy providing descriptive video for the classic Canadian television series, North of 60.

Set in the North-West Territories in the small fictional town of Lynx River, North of 60 follows the trials and tribulations of the town’s mostly First Nation residents. Winner of multiple Gemini Awards and syndicated all around the world, the show often dealt with powerful and controversial themes such as alcoholism, poverty, land claims and the fight for cultural preservation.

North of 60 aired from 1992 to 1998 and was followed by a number of made for television movies. Starring in the series were Tina Keeper as RCMP officer Michelle Kenidi, Tom Jackson as Peter Kenidi and the late Gordon Tootoosis who played the bootlegger Albert Golo.

Episodes of North of 60 begin airing on AMI beginning September 12 from Monday to Friday at 3pm Eastern. For further programming information on this and other shows with audio description, check out AMI’s Program Schedule.

With a total of 90 produced episodes of North of 60 the team at Descriptive Video Works is sure to become so familiar with Lynx River it will feel like our second home!

It’s an incredibly exciting time here at Descriptive Video Works – We are continuing to expand our services into the United States, we have a brand new company website and we can be now be found on Facebook and Twitter. “Like”, “Follow” and keep up to date on everything DV and if you have any questions about what we do, please don’t hesitate to contact us, we’d love to help.

In addition to all of the above, we’re extremely proud of our CEO Diane Johnson who was recently nominated for the Pacific region Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the special citation social category. The award is a unique recognition acknowledging an entrepreneur’s achievements in driving social change and improving people’s quality of life. Read the full press release here.

Thanks for stopping by and do come visit us often as we bring you news, views and surprises from the rapidly growing world of described video and audio description!